性瘾者

"HANNA, sweetie, what\'s wrong?"

Hanna clutched her chest tight while looking at the full moon outside the window of her bedroom. For some reason, her heart felt like it was being squeezed tightly at that very moment. But that wasn\'t the end of it. "The moon is bleeding, Mother," she said, then she turned to her mother that was sitting on the chair beside her bed. "It\'s asking for my help."

Her mother looked confused by what she said. "Hanna, is everything alright?"

Of course, her mother wouldn\'t believe her.

To be honest, she wasn\'t sure either whether she was hallucinating or not. But she had been staring at the full moon ever since she woke up after having a bad dream. In that dream, she saw a little girl her age asking for help. All she remembered was a pair of glowing red eyes looking at her. But before the image of the young girl became clear, she woke up.

And when she opened her eyes, the moon had already turned red.

"Sweetie?" her mother asked, then she stood up to sit beside her. Then, her mother gently touched her forehead. After that, she gasped. "You have a high fever, Hanna," she said, then she stood up in a panic and began to head towards the door. "Wait here, sweetie. I\'ll call the doctor to check on you."

She wanted to stop her mother and say that she was fine, but she had already bolted out of the room. She even heard her mother call the servants in a panicked voice.

[I can\'t blame Mother for being a worrywart though.]

After all, she was born with a heart complication. She was only five years old and yet, she had already experienced three major heart attacks that almost killed her. Thus, her mother had become more overprotective of her.

But to be honest, she didn\'t think that her condition had anything to do with her illness.

"Am I the only one who can see that the moon has turned red?" Hanna whispered to herself while looking at the red moon. Then, she clutched her chest even tighter. She didn\'t know why but she was worried about the little girl with red eyes that she saw in her dream earlier. "Only the Royal Family members have red eyes, but His Majesty doesn\'t have children yet. Who are you?"

Hanna would later find out through her mother and father that the emperor, in fact, had twin children: a royal prince and a royal princess.

***

RUFUS clenched his hands tight until his nails dug deep into the skin of his palms.

He and the Black Hawk Knights that he led managed to raid the Slave House successfully. But the number of poor children that were about to be sold off to an auction still shocked him. He thought the human traffickers in the empire had been wiped out when House Hawthorne fell from grace. But obviously, the Black Market was still thriving.

[His Majesty won\'t like this…]

"Captain."

He turned to the bulky man with burgundy bun hair and hazel eyes. It was Jaxson Emmett, the vice-captain of the Black Hawk Knights and his right-hand man. The vice-captain\'s bearded face and intimidating look made him appear older than he was. But he was actually older than his right-hand man.

"How are the children?" Rufus asked Jaxson. He was still inside the auction house because he was making sure that all the nobles and the organizers that were involved in slave trading had been caught. He asked Jaxson to safely evacuate the children while he and the other knights were apprehending the criminals. "Are they in a safe place now?"

"All of the children have been sent to the shelter," Jaxson said in a hesitant voice. "Except for one."

His brows furrowed in confusion. "What\'s the matter?"

"The boy is ignoring us and we can\'t approach him either," his vice-captain said while scratching his cheek. "Captain, the boy is strange. He has silver hair and golden eyes."

His eyes widened in shock.

To be honest, they found out about that Slave House through an unknown source that gave them a tip. He took the risk and believed the information that they got regarding the children being sold off as slaves. Aside from that, the unknown informant also told them that among the children in the auction house, there was a survivor of the Silver Fox Clan.

He had a feeling that His Majesty allowed that operation to take place because the emperor wanted to take in the supposedly last Silver Fox in the empire.

[I didn\'t get my hopes high but it seems like His Majesty\'s gut feel was correct.]

He didn\'t waste time and asked Jaxson to lead him to where the boy was.

The vice-captain led him to the rooftop of the Auction House. There, he saw a boy looking up at the night sky while watching the moon. He noticed that the young one was wearing ragged clothes and boots that were too big for him. The poor child had cuts and bruises all over his body. But the aura that he was emitting was too strong for his age.

[He really has silver hair and golden eyes.]

And the fleck of gold in the boy\'s eyes was brighter than his.

People admired the Quinzels\' "golden" eyes. But to be honest, their eyes were more on the yellow side than gold. Their eyes would only turn golden when glowing.

But the boy\'s golden eyes were already shining even without the glow in them.

"Child, it\'s cold here," he said to the child gently after dismissing Jaxson. "Please come with me. I\'ll bring you to a warm place and give you warm food."

"Blood."

"Huh?"

The boy with silver hair and golden eyes turned to him while pointing a bony finger at the moon. "Blood. Moon. Call." He then pointed at himself. "Me."

[He can\'t speak coherently…]

Unfortunately, Rufus didn\'t understand what the boy meant. But he decided to bring the Silver Fox to the palace and present him to His Majesty. Who knows? Maybe His Majesty was planning to make the Silver Fox a knight for the hidden royal prince.

***

"SHUT UP," Trevor, seated on the cold throne in the room where the Devil locked him up, snarled at the image of the Blood Moon in front of him. He was in hell and the moon wasn\'t supposed to be visible from where he was. But for some reason, the image of that damned thing appeared in the wall of his room and wouldn\'t shut up about calling his name. "Even if your master is calling for me, it\'s not like I can leave this damned room, you know? That blasted Devil locked me up here."

The "moon" said something incoherent.

To be honest, it wasn\'t like the moon was directly talking to him using normal language. He just simply understood the strange sounds it was making,

That or maybe he had lost his mind from being locked up in that hellhole for long.

"If she\'s really the Moon Princess that I\'m waiting for, then guide her to where I am because there\'s no way in hell I could leave this damned room on my own," Trevor snapped at the moon once again. "I want to be the demon-in-distress this time instead of the knight-in-shining-armor."

***

[WHY DOES the room look bloody tonight?]

Nero couldn\'t help but wonder while staring at the moon from the window of his bathroom. He was in the tub while looking outside, amused that the moon looked strange tonight.

[Is it really calling me or is the poison already kicking in and I\'m about to awaken?]

After Neoma was poisoned, his twin sister awakened her power as a de Moonasterio. He didn\'t want to be left behind by his precious little sister and thus, he decided to hasten his awakening. He had a feeling that it would happen tonight.

Nero closed his eyes and ignored the strange voice that he heard. "I\'m not going to save anyone but my precious Neoma."

***

NIKOLAI woke up when he heard a commotion outside his room.

He could hear Glenn arguing with someone. Even though the voices were low, he could still understand the conversation because of his sharp hearing. Thus, he stood up and wore his robe while listening to the voices outside.

"His Majesty is already resting," Glenn said sternly. "Even if it\'s you, you can be punished for sneaking in the emperor\'s palace at this hour."

"It\'s important," the child Glenn was arguing with said in a lazy yet firm voice. "I need to talk to His Majesty before it\'s too late."

He didn\'t wait any longer and opened the door of his room.

Glenn instantly bowed to greet him. The young boy, on the other hand, just raised his head and gave him an impatient look.

[Children these days are so insolent.]

But he didn\'t hate this boy\'s guts.

"What do you need at this hour?" Nikolai asked the boy. "That better be important or else, you\'ll be punished for entering my palace without permission, Ruston Stroganoff."

"Your Majesty, please head to Luna Palace right now," Ruston Stroganoff said in an urgent voice. "It\'s currently under attack by assassins."

***

NOTE: In case I\'m not being clear enough, the events in this chapter happened the night Luna Palace was attacked by assassins. It was when Nero was cursed and Neoma was forced by Nikolai to be Nero\'s substitute (around Chapter 7, I believe). If I remember correctly, the twins were five years old during this time?

Anyway, Ruto is already a Royal Chef back then. Our little genius chef. He\'s the fruit of my obsession with Mast*rChef Junior. LOL. <3